Newsletter Access

Want to promote your conference through professional, trade and industry newsletters? Newsletter Access offers a key word search through 9,553 newletters.

Maintaining Contact

Some meeting professionals fear that if they book speakers through a bureau they will lose the interpersonal contact that is so crucial for assuring success. As the client, however, you largely get to dictate what kind of relationship you want with both the bureau and the speaker.

For example, if you insist that the speaker call you directly on all matters related to the presentation, that the speaker stay in touch with you during the time leading up to the presentation, and that there be a full exchange of participant materials prior to the actual meeting date, all of this can be stipulated to the bureau representative.

Relying on Bureaus

Why Would You Want to Use a Speaker Bureau?
* because the agents are dedicated professionals and among the tops in the field.
* because they work with only the best speakers who do a consistently outstanding job at every speaking engagement.
* when they've been in business for at least 10 years and know how to serve meeting
planners effectively.
* because they are efficient, responsible, flexible, and stay highly attuned to your needs.
* when their bureau representative will meet with you on site at your location.

Speaker Ethics

Open up the National Speakers Association Directory and you'll see thousands of speakers, most eagerly awaiting the opportunity to work with you. Log onto any major search engine on the Internet, type in the word "speaker," and you'll get 100's of hits. It's not difficult to identify speakers on all topics, from all geographic locations, of either gender, in all shapes and sizes, and at varying prices.

Of the 11,500+ speakers in the profession today, however, how many have a well-developed, written ethics policy and operating procedures that succinctly define their working relationship with bureaus? The answer: less than one in ten.

A Working Model

The following 19 provisions, drawn from my own Code of Ethics and Operating Procedures can serve as a working model. You can use it to determine what to look for when adding another speaker to your line-up of speaking professionals, whom you feel confident in recommending to clients:

1. We will not take on any speaking engagement if we have any doubt that Jeff Davidson is less than the best speaker that the client could retain for the engagement. When we say yes to a lead that you provide, you can be assured that Jeff is qualified and capable, and intends to give a presentation that exceeds the client's specific needs.

Fees and Expenses
2. Our fees are consistent with what you would pay if you booked Jeff directly. We never raise client fees for bureau-generated engagements.

3. If you pre-arrange a quantity purchase of our products, we agree to offer you a 20% commission on the gross amount of products sold. We follow your directions regarding any product sales.

continued…

Identifying the Right Speaker

Speakers bureaus have been an effective way of identifying and retaining the right speaker for your upcoming meeting since the time of Mark Twain. Yet, many meeting professionals have still not tapped into the power of using speakers bureaus to identify the right speaker with the right topic at the right price, thereby saving a ton of work.

One of the common myths that prevail today, which has kept some meeting organizers from employing speakers bureaus, is the pervasive belief that somehow it is more costly to retain a speaker through a bureau than by trying to contract with a speaker directly. In rare instances this may be true, but among ethical speakers and ethical bureaus, which represent 95% of each industry, the fee of retaining a speaker is the same whether you contract with that speaker directly or book the speaker through a reputable speakers bureau.

For example, if a speaker charges $8,500, that $8,500 is the same to you whether you pay the speaker directly or you pay the bureau. The bureau takes a percentage from the speaker, hence the speaker is paying the bureau’s fee, not you.

Why would a speaker ever want to be booked through a bureau when ostensibly he or she could consummate bookings directly? The short answer is that many speakers do not wish to engage in marketing; they do not have the time, energy, or resources and haven’t developed a long-term client base, as a good bureau has done. The fee that the speaker pays to a bureau to be booked with you is well worth it for the speaker. He or she gets to lower overhead and spend more time on presentation skills, subject matter development, and understanding of your industry and your audience members’ needs.

Speakers Bureaus offer Benefits

Five advantages of working with a speakers bureau for meeting planners include the following:

1) Should the situation arise in which you are not happy with the speaker's performance or any other aspect of your interaction with the speaker, you have a legitimate third party, the bureau, to handle your concerns. You are in a position of even greater leverage because it is in the bureau's best and long-term interest to ensure that you are happy.

2) The bureau's loyalty is to you--you are the customer--not the speaker they assign to meet your needs. Some speakers never quite understand that, but the bureaus have a very clear understanding of who signs the checks.

3) In the rare event that the original speaker cannot make the appointed date, the bureau can more easily get you the right back-up speaker than if you face this task by yourself, especially at the last minute.

4) Many bureaus require speakers to sign various pledges indicating, for example, that they will abide by certain travel expense limitations, not use offensive or off-color language, and so on. In this manner, working with the bureau affords many more protections than you might otherwise have when working with a speaker directly.

5) The bureau can also help enforce your policies regarding selling from the platform and engaging in other types of promotional behavior. A small percentage of speakers will flat out upset the tone of your meeting by using a portion of their time in front of your group to engage in aggressive marketing. The incidence of this happening when retaining speakers through a bureau is far less, and for the most part can be eliminated all together.

Online Presentation on "Change"

Is managing rapid change a challenge for you? Here's a webinar you may enjoy from the Best Practice Institute featuring yours truly: "Prospering in a World of Rapid Change" schedule for September 11, 2007 at 2 p.m. EST.

This is a LIVE 45 minute webinar. Here's the description: Everywhere you look there are life-long career professionals losing confidence in their ability to stay competitive in our rapidly changing society. Concurrently, no one in society has a long-term lock on any market niche and no body of information affords a strategic competitive advantage for very long. The reality of our times is that everyone is feeling at least a little unsure of himself and in that sense everyone is in the same boat.

It's normal to be confused. In this presentation, I'll lay out what top professionals do to maintain confidence and balance, independent of the frequency of change to which they're exposed, and how they maintain a sense of breathing space along the way. If you work for a living, you won't want to miss hearing this.

Subtopics:
* The roots of uncertainty and what to do about it
* The importance of seeking small victories
* A new approach to learning
* What part self-confidence plays in mastering change
* New choices for new results

Philadelphia Area Invitiation

I will be speaking in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for a day long presentation on Sunday June 3, 2007. The topic will be "Time Management in Age of Turbulence" delivered to 65 industrial hygenists.

If you're in the area, feel free to attend even if for 20 or 30 minutes. I promise the trip will be personally and professionally rewarding for you!


Here is the complete course description:

Time Management in an Age of Turbulence with Jeff Davidson
Everywhere you look, there are career professionals concerned with too much work, and not enough time. They are struggling with what is needed to manage the pace, stay competitive, and maintain worklife balance. The reality of our times is that everyone is feeling at least a little unsure of himself and, in that sense, everyone is in the same boat. Even management guru Tom Peters says it's normal to be confused!

In this day-long presentation, mega-author and professional speaker Jeff Davidson gets right to the heart of the matter and asks: "Are you running your life... ...or is your life running you?" Are you striving hard to meet stringent demands, tight deadlines, and awesome responsibilities with a lack of budget and staff resources? Are you wearing too many hats and perhaps not doing any one task as well as you could?

This course is vital because ever-increasing change is here to stay. With all that's happened in the world, in industrial hygiene, and in technology, it's not likely that business or society in general will soon return to a time when the pace of life moves along at an even keel. Outsourcing and downsizing are not temporary phenomena. Outside consultants face dwindling contract work opportunities while corporate professionals face too much work. Concerns abound about injury/exposure to the workforce as a result of cutbacks.

The nature of our times dictates that each of us be more fluid and more open to new procedures and systems for effectiveness in the workplace and beyond. Drawing upon his book, "Breathing Space," and many of his other books, Jeff Davidson will discuss how to "Manage in an Age of Turbulence" and will include such issues as handling rapid change, managing information and communication overload, managing multiple priorities, and, against all odds, relaxing at high speed. Topic Agenda:

1) Change is Inevitable Except from a Vending Machine
Root Causes of the Time Pressure
What Fills Your Days and Why?
Staying Alert and Responsive
Greater Control of Each Day

2) If It's to Be, It's Up to Me
Embracing Goals as Your Own
Doing More With Less
Getting it all Done Effectively
Empowering Those Around You

3) Keeping Your Plate Relatively Clean
There's Power in Completions Big and Small
More Energy from Each Accomplishment
Conditioning Your Environment
How to Maintain a Keener Focus

4) But I'm Already Dancing as Fast as I Can
Gaining a Frequent Sense of Breathing Space
Relaxing at High Speed
Choices That Lead to Mastery

As a result of attending this course you will be able to:
1) Handle Information Overload While Remaining Alert and Responsive
2) Better Manage Multiple Priorities
3) Maintain More Control Each Day and Help Those You Supervise
4) Generate Energy from Your Accomplishments, Large and Small

Equally important, you'll gain:
*A methodology for minimizing disruptions and interruptions
*The ability to achieve more completions all day long every day
*A more frequent sense of breathing space

The Special Event 2007

The Special events industry comes into its own: Barbara Scofidio writing for MeetingsNet.com observes “If there was a common theme at The Special Event 2007, held last week in Los Angeles, it was that this industry, which started out as a cottage industry or a ‘garage industry,’ as insiders like to describe it has finally evolved into a profession.”

Speaking Experiences, 2nd

When Jeff was retained to speak on board a cruise ship to the National Association of Women Business Owners, he was surprised and pleased to discover that he was the only male presenter onboard!

Another time, Jeff presented a half-day seminar to a group of association executives who were given nothing for breakfast and nothing during the breaks except for coffee or tea. By the third hour of the presentation, blood sugar levels and attention spans were dropping all over the room. Had he known in advance, Jeff would have brought bagels and cream cheese for everyone!

ASAE's Electronic Newsletters

The American Society of Association Executives in Washington DC continues to offer a vast array of resources for meeting planners. From their site:

“ASAE's 13 electronic newsletters provide information targeted to the specific needs of association professionals in special-interest areas of association management. The newsletters include case studies and how-to articles, along with information about trends and news in each newsletter's specialty area.”

“Meetings & Expositions is a key source for enhancing professional development. It provides information and networking opportunities to enhance your skills and competency as a meeting professional in the areas of meeting operations, interpersonal and management skills, strategic planning and environmental scanning, and sales and marketing.”

CIC's Current Members

Convention Industry Council members:
Alliance of Meeting Management Companies (AMMC)
American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA)
American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)
Association for Convention Operations Management (ACOM)
Association of Destination Management Executives (ADME)
Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE)
Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), Formerly IACVB
Exhibit Designers and Producers Association (EDPA)
Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA)
Financial and Insurance Conference Planners (FICP), Formerly ICPA
Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association (HCEA)
Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM)
International Association of Conference Centers (IACC)
International Association for Exhibition Management (IAEM)
International Association of Protocol Consultants (IAPC)
International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB)
International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)
International Special Events Society (ISES)
Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
National Association of Catering Executives (NACE)
National Business Travel Association (NBTA)
National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners (NCBMP)
National Speakers Association (NSA)
Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA)
Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA)
Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP)
Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE)
Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA)

Northwest Meetings & Events

A Meeting Resource: Northwest Meetings & Events magazine

From the website: “Northwest Meetings & Events magazine is the premier trade publication for meeting planners and hospitality service providers in the Northwest states. Northwest Meetings & Events aims to report on and promote businesses involved in the meetings and events industry in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia.”

Free vs. Fee Speakers

Free vs. Fee Speakers
By Ed Rigsbee, CSP

When is it cheaper to hire a professional than it is to hire free speakers? The answer that many meeting planners would instantly offer is, never. The other day, I had an eye-opening conversation with the executive director of an association based in the eastern part of North America. If you answered the opening question the same way, hopefully, this will open your eyes.

The executive director said to me, "Ed, I discovered it was cheaper to hire you to speak for two days at my meeting than pay the travel and lodging expenses of the four free speakers that I was thinking of using." For a couple years now I have been conducting multi-day for single-fee programs, and still, his comment was truly an eye-opener for me.

In an effort to be accurate, I should share some additional details with you. First, the meeting venue is Maui, Hawaii and some of the free speakers would fly from eastern North America. Second, I offer multi-day programs eliminating the need for additional speakers.

Deliver Value vs. Fill the Void
Do the people responsible for particular meetings want to offer usable take-home value for the meeting attendees or do they simply want to fill a void? Last spring, a meeting planner hired me to present at her national fall meeting. Since I live in the Greater Los Angeles area, she suggested that I might want to attend her coming Western Regional meeting that was to be held in Los Angeles.

I took her up on the offer and arrived early enough to hear the keynote speaker, a local college professor of marketing. Following the keynote, I said to the meeting planner, "I thought your members were in industry." She responded, "They are." And then went into long discussion about how disappointed she was that the professor was so off-target for her group.

The Real Cost of Cheap
What percentage of the attendees from the above mentioned Western Regional meeting will rush to attend that same meeting the next year? What percentage will wonder if they again want to listen to an off-target college professor, who thinks he is addressing retailers but in reality is addressing industrial fabricators? How many potential following-year attendees did the professor lose for that meeting planner? Would this situation make your meeting appear to be shoddy or inferior?

Supplier companies love to send their representatives/salespeople to speak at conventions, as it is free publicity-even if they have to pay their own way. Sometimes the meeting attendees are lucky in that the supplier's speaker will be motivating while offering usable content. Sometimes they aren’t so lucky, especially when the supplier's speaker does not take the time (like the college professor mentioned above) to either understand the needs of the audience or plan an honest presentation. Too often attendees only get a sixty-minute commercial. After a sixty-minute commercial, what percentage of attendees will break down the doors to attend the following year?

What percentage of your other suppliers would also be outraged? How excited will they be the following year to belly up to the table and again pay more than their fair share for the meeting? Fair Share? Yes, suppliers always pay more than regular members. Associations justify the higher charge since they "get business" there.

Could the above combination of situations cost you 10 percent of your attendees the following year? And again cost you another 10% of the reduced number the year after that? And what about the following year? Could this be the reason for the downward spiral many associations are currently facing?

Saving with Professionals
Professional speakers live and die on their reputation. Please do not confuse celebrity speakers with professional speakers. Celebrity speakers get paid gobs of money to speak at a meeting, not because of their eloquence, but because of the average person's desire to be in the same room with them-to experience them live. Their job is exclusively to attract people to the meeting. When I talk about professional speakers, I'm talking about the people that earn the lion's share of their income from speaking at meetings or conducting trainings and their related books, tapes, etc. These are the people who generally interview and research the issues and needs of their audiences and tailor or customize their proven material for each unique audience. These people are experts in their field or experienced sorry tellers or humorists.

These are also the people your attendees expect at their meeting. These are the speakers that deliver solid take-home content while also creating a motivating environment. They have to be exciting, motivating and funny-or they don't eat!

Keeping in mind all that has been mentioned above, why in the world would you settle for a free speaker? Especially, when that choice could be the most expensive. Don't your meeting attendees deserve the value they expect?

* * * *

Fellow speaker Ed Rigsbee, CSP is the author of PartnerShift, Developing Strategic Alliances and The Art of Partnering. Rigsbee is a keynote presenter at corporate and trade association conferences across North America and can be reached at ed@rigsbee.com or via www.rigsbee.com.